Automatic regulator for fuel-oil burners



April 1 w24@ www@ E. GROSSENBACHER AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR FUEL OILBURNERS Filed March l5 1922 2 Shee'ts--SheeJ 1 v2 sheets-sheet 2 1 E.

E. GROSSENBACHER Filed March l5 1922 AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR FUEL OILBURNERS lqj., [33 u@l E Aprii l 1924,

Armen/frs i Patented Apr, il; i224,

snare Matth est GMSSENBACHER,`O1" FAJARDO, APRIIL() M60.

numerario aneomron Foa FUEL-ora ecartees.

appartem mea Marea i5, 192e. serial no.' erases.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Emmer GROSSEN- nAoHnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, and a resident of Fajardo, Porto .5 `Rico, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Regulators forFuel-@il Burners, ot which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to automatic regum lators for fuel oil burners, andmore particularly to that type which includes an' oil valve connectedwith an oil pipe leading from a 'ueloil pump to the burner and a steamvalve connected with the steam line l leading from the boiler in whichsteam is being generated. lin such installations, it is evident that ifthe oil pressure remains conf stant and the steam pressure varies, noconstant proportions in the mixture of` oil zo and steam can beautomatically maintained it the valve openings through which the mediumspass increase and -decrease to the same extent. As it is essential tothe maintenance` ot a clear `llame, whereby the most 25 eliiflientheating results and the most eco-.v

nomical consumption of oil are obtained,v

and because boilers equipped with sensitive and ehicient burnersgenerally `operate under greatly varying loads, it haseccordingly'heretofore been necessary to constantly adjust the oil and steam valvesrelatively to each other. rllhe object othis-invention is to overcomethis disadvantage and to provide a regulator whereby the properproportions ot steam and oil in the mixture will be automaticallymaintained regardless ot any variations in the steam pressure andwhereby the dame produced by the mixture will be automatically regulatedin accordance with the requirements for moet eilicient and economicaloperation. My invention will he fully described hereinafter and thefeatures of novelty will be pointed out in the append ed claims. 'I

ln the accompanying drawings, which illustrate` examples of theinvention without delining itsliinits, ligure 1 is a sectionalvelevationg 2 is a side elevation partly 1n section; Fig. 3 is a planview partly in sec*- tion, with; arts omitted for the salie ofclearness; big. l is a detail view showing the valve openings: Figs. 5and t3 are d iagrammatic views illustrating the operatlon oil theinvention; llig. '7 is a sectional elevation showing another iorm or theinvention; `Fig. 8 is a horizontal section on the line 8 8 of F ig. 7,and Fig. 9 is a detail view of the valve ports of this form.

vAs illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the Y .regulator comprises a body10 provided at opposite sides with valve bodies 11 and 11, preferablycast upon the body 10 which, at its lower end, is internallyscrew-threaded to receive a spring-.adjusting plug 12, the purpose ofwhich will appearVmore. fully hereinafter.v The body 10 is formed withan axial chamber 13'which, at its open end, may be machined inwardly fora short distance to receive the lugs 14 of a diaphragm bracket 15 whichsupports a diaphragmy soA chamber 164 closed by means of a removablespring bushing 2t has its one end iixed in the boss 22 and at its otherend is provided with an annular flange 25 resting uponone end of a.springl 26 which, in turn, engages the spring-adjusting plug 12, asshown in Fig. 1. The bushing 24 is sldiably mounted in a guide 27 whichextends between and is cast upon the lugs ot the diaphragm bracket 15;the latter may be provided with lugs' 15 for the accommodation ofsuitable bolts 15b whereby the diaphragm bracket is fixed upon the body10. The spring-bushing 214 slidably fits over a regulatorv rod 28 whichprojects axially through the springadjusting plug 12 and has its freeend screw-threaded to receive the hand-regulating wheel 29 arrangedtobear against the lower end of the plug 12; this lower end 12x ispreferably of square or other angular form to accommodate a wrenchwhereby the spring plug may be screwed into the body 10. A cotter pin orthe like 30 prevents the hand wheel 29 from being unscrewed 'from theregulator rod 28. At an intermediate point the spring bushing 24: ispreferably oit increased diameter to :torni an anA internally nularshoulder 2da which hears against the guide27, said bushing 24C, at itsenlarged section, being provided with slots 3l in whicha pin 32 passingthrough the rod. 23 is movable Ar ,yolre 33 is slidaloly fitted upon therelatively enlarged section 'of the spring bushing 24 and is cut out asindicated at 3,3a to receive the retaining spring 33b which hearsagainst the annular hangs 25 of the spring husliing 2t. At its oppositeouter ends, the yoke 33 is provided with screw-threaded openingsarranged to receive adjusting screws 34 which are maintained againstrotation loy means of springs 35 hearing against the milled edges otsaid screwsl 3e `Valve stems 36 have their upper end portions of reduceddiameter .to pass through said adjusting screws 34: and form shoulderswhich bear against thelovver ends thereof, the' projecting ends of saidreduced end portions being fitted-into recessed rings 37 the latter .mayloe xed upon the valvev stems 36 hy means of taperl pins 33, which, atthe saine time,

may serve as handles for operating the valves in horizontal planes, as`will appearmore fully hereinafter. Spring Washers 39 are located in therecesses ol? the rings 37 for the purpose of preventing' unintentionalrelative rotation thereof. The' valve stems 36 pass through stellinghoxes 40 located upon the covers ll which are fixed upon the valvecasings ll and lla, said valve stems being connected in any suitaloleInanner With the valves i2 and 2M res actively.

rlhe latter are slidahly and rotatah4 y mount# ed in sleeves Li3 and 43a`Which are fixed in the valve casings ll. and lla respectively, and aresurrounded hy annular passages 44 and 44B, as shown in Fig. l. Thesleeve 423, which is located in the steam line, is provided atdiametrically opposite points with openings l5 of generally rectangularform, excepting that the lovver left-hand corner or the lrectangle isnot carried out, hut is defined by an inclined line 46 as shown in Fig.l. Similarly, the sleeve 43, which is located in the' oil line, isprovided with openings 45a of generally rectan ular form, excepting thatthe upper rig t-hand corner of the rectangle is not carried out, hut isdefined hy an inclined line 46a. These openings l5 and 45a communicaterespectively with the annular channels la and 44a, and

` also communicate with openings e? and -l'l ol rectangular form 'formedin the Walls of the valves ll2 and 42a, it being understood that thesevalves are oi" tubular form and that the medium controlled hy the valvespasses into the same in transverse directions and out of said valves inaxial directions W ith this' arrangement, there is no side pressure toaffect the mcuracy oli the operation of the valves; furthermore, if thevalves are connected so that the mediumassenso ln the illustratedexample, the valve casj ing l1 is located in the steam line and thevalve casing 1la is located in the oil line,

so that the valves l2 `and 42a control the l ilow of steam and oilrespectively 'to thel burner, which may be of any customary and Wellknown construction.` The diaphragm 20 is rendered susceptible to thesteam pressure in the boiler through the 'medium of v the pipe 19, sothat said diaphragm responds to variations of steam pressure in theboiler which is being heated by the burner in question. lt is 'assumedthat the boiler is under pressure and that steam from the same holleryis being used as an atomizing agent for the oil. ln practice, to set andstart the regulator, steam is iirst permitted to enter the space alcovethe diaphragm and by acting upon the same, pushes said diaphragm downand correspondingly moves the spring lo Shing which acts upon the pin 32and pushes the same. with the regulator rod 28, downwardly andcorrespondingly moves the yoke 33 which carries along the valves 42 and42n4 in a corresponding movement. This movement of the parts iscontinued until the boss v22 of the diaphragm disk engages the guide 27and thereby arrests the downward motion of the yoke and valves; theupward movement of these elements is arrested hy the shoulder 2A@engaging the guide 2T which thus sets the limit vof the valve travel inboth directions. When the boss 22 engages the ,guide 27 'ports l? and47a are helow the ports 45 and 45 respe tively and the steam and oilvalves are accordingly closed: at this stage the ports l5 are also outof vertical alignment with the ports 7a. As the next step the springplug l2 is screwed up and consequently, by means of the spring 26,bushing 24, spring 33b and yoke 33, raises the valves 42 and 42a inthe'sleeves t3 and 43a. This is continued until the upper edges of theports Il? rise above the lower edges of the ports 45 and steamaccordingly begins to escape from the lourner` after which the customaryoil valve may he opened by rotating Vthe valve 42a in the sleevell31.through the medium ot the handle 33 and ther-elly cause the portsi-7a to overlap the ports 45a at one end and thereby permit oil to passthrough the regulatorvto the burnerq alter which the escaping' mixturemay he lighted., Shouldthe result he a smoky flame, too much oil isproloaloly passing to the burner, so that it is necessary, in order toobtain a clear dame, to reduce the amount thereof and to increase thevolume of the atomizing agent 'i on or. in the present instance, etsteam. As

(ill

,wardly, the reverse operation bein insane@ t3 and 43 to a certainextent and it is assumed that the flame is smoky, it becomes necessaryto admit more steam to the burner. To do this, the adjusting screw 34 isturned so that the steam valve l2' is independently which oill may pass.After the proper set-- ting has been secured ductuations in steampressure in the boilers Will be reflected upon the diaphragm 20 and willaccordingly bring1 about an operation of the valves 42 and 42a wherebythe supply of steam and oil to thev hurner is adjusted to produce a moreintense dangle when the pressure drops and a reduced dame when thepressure rises. With the described adjustment of the valves, thepressure gauge of the installations Ynust be observed and the properadjustments made by shifting-the plug' 12. lf the pressure is too high,the tension of the spring 26 should he reduced by screwing the plug 12outperformed if the pressure is too low. f `it is desired to stop theoperation of the boiler, the hand wheel 29 is screwed up against theplus,r 1Q, which causes the regulator rod 28 to descend and carry withit lthe yoke 33 which is connected to said rod by means of the pin 32,which, durings this operation, moves downwardly in the slots 31 ot' thebushing 34'.- without causing' anyn movementot the latter. With thisoperation, the retaining springq 33b is compressed, since the pressurespring Q6 of much heavier tension holds the spring; bushing 2t inposition relative to the steam pressure. its soon as the lower side ofthe yolre 33 engages the retaining pins 15", the valves are closed. lltthere is no pressure on the diaphragm 20, the pressure spring 26 willpush the spring @bushing 2t up against the ,guide 27, in which positionthe -valves are wide open, provided that the hand wheel'29 does not restagainst the plug; tij. @n the other hand, when maximum pressure isenective upon the diaphragm 20, the diaphragm disk 2l willloe pusheddown until the boss 22v engages the ,guide 27, in which position thevalves are closed and the flame is accordingly extinguished; by -nfieansof the guide 27.. the valves are protected against over-travel.

When starting the regulator by hand` it is necessary to open the same bymeans of the hand wheel 29. as it is of importance that steam should headmitted to the burner first; lthe volume of 'steam ymaybe adjusted aspreviously stated by screwing upV onI the adjusting s. rew 34, therebyraising thesteam valve without disturbing its lateral position. Thisadjustment'is of importance, as Without it. oil end steam maj'he startedflowing at the saine time, thus elaying the ignition of the nurture; itsteam' passes throuoh the burnerirst, the smallest amount ot' oilpassing through'the oil valve will he atomized as soon as it reachessaid burner.

ln order to illustrate the operation-of the regulator, two examples arediagrammatic.-

ally illustrated in Figs. 5 and (i, the first showing the steam valve'partly close-d, as would be the case, for instance, if a light oilisheing atomized, and the second showing `the oil valve partly closed,as would be the Case if a heavy oil is being1 atomized. For the purposesot description and illustration, it will be assumed that ata boilerpressure of lbs. both the oil and the steam valves are nearlyclosed, sothat only .the amount of oil and steam necessary to maintain thispressure passes the regulator, this condition of the parts beingdiagrammatically illustrated at it. in Figs. 5 and 6. As the steam.consumption increases and the boiler pressure'drops slightly, thepressure eiifective ony the diaphragm Q0 through the connection 19 iscorrespondingly reduced, so that the yoke 33, by the action of thespring 26, raises the.

valves l2 ande@ri in the sleeves 4&3 and 43 and accordingly opens saidvalves, for instance, to the extent indicated at B in Figs. 5 and 6, itbeing-understood that the oil and steam valves are raised to the sameextent. ln this condition of the parts, the oil passes 'through thevalve under the same constant' pressure whereas the steam pressure isretid itt

tot

duced to 95 pounds, which would not suiiice,

ordinarily, to atomize the oil sutiic-iently. rlhe steam passage or, inother words, the openings i5 inL the sleeve 43 are, however, so formedthat the more Vsaid openings are exposed vertically, the larger `becomesthe area of such openings horizontally. ln other words, the arrangementis such that the steam openings do not increase 1n the same lproportionas the voil openings, hut increase in such a way that the proper amountof steam necessary for perfect atomization under reduced steam pressureis available at the burner. its the steam pressure continues to tall forany reason, the adjustment ot the valves will automatically follow thesteps indicated by C., lhll and ll* in Figs. 5 and 6; these diagrammaticsteps show that in the positions B, C and the steam openings increasemore than the proportionate amount relative to the oil openings and thatfrom D to l the steam-opening increases are conetant, whereas the treeareas cti the oil openings are z rradiuilly decreasing relative to.

the steam openings because ot the torm of the openings 45a, so that theproportionate reduced amount ot oil which is required at the lower steampressures will be perfectly atomized. lf the oil and steam openings in`creased in area .to the same extent at a constant oil pressure and areduced steam prcs sure. the result' would be a smoky flame; thispossibility is entirely avoided with the present arrangement.

As shown in Figf, the medium in each case, whether it be oil vor steam.Hows through the channels t and lila 'circumferentially around thesleeves i3 and 43a, then passes inwardly through the ports thereolig andthrough the ports 47 and 47@ or the respective valves to the centres olsuch valves, which it leaves through-the top and bottom and tlows out ath in Fig. 2. The valves are capable of being independently adjusted twodirections, first, by moving the valves 4:2 and 42a vertically in thesleeves i3 and ta-respectively to adjust theport openings in verticaldirections vand by rotating said valves horizontally in `said sleeves toshift the ports relatively to each other in directions transverse to theaxes of the valves. Theindependent vertical adjustments are edectedthrough the medium ot the adjusting screws 3d while the inde- Aportsll7badapted to co-operate with ports 45" in a sleeve 43". which is fitted inthe valve body between the inlet if and the outletl t thereol. .Severalof the ports in questionv are located in. lineboth in the valve and inthe sleeve, `from which it follows thatv only the slightest movementeither up or down is required to vary the port openings whereby this'form of valve is rendered very sensitive. rThe valve is balancedthrough the medium of an equalizing piston d8 'which is connected withtheyalve by means ,of a hollow member 49 and is movable in a chamber 50which may either comprise an integral part ol' the valve casing or beformed in a cover detachably connected therewith. rllhe valve 42% member49. and piston 4S are preferably made in one piece and the piston ispreferably tted with rings so as to form a tight lit inthe chamber 50.As this valve has a passage through the member 49 from the point Qbelowthe valve to a point above the piston9 said valve, when operating, willbe balanced and assenso not be adected by any dierence in pressureexisting 'upon the two sides of the valve. lt will be understood thatthe valve ports and the sleeve ports are constructed in sub` stantiallythe samer manner as described with respect to Fig. l, and that the portsfor the sleeve and the steam line are reversed with respect to the portsof the sleeve in the oil line in the same manner as previouslydescribed. lt will further be understood that the valve shown in Figs.'i' and 8 is embodied in duplicate in a regulator in the same manne-r asillustrated in Fig. l and that the adjustment and operation thereofisalso the same as in the form first described.

'lhe invention provides a simple and reliable mechanism whereby theproportion of the mixture of steam and oil necessary to provideetlicient and economical operation is automatically maintained at aconstant .point in 'an efficient manner and without regard to anychanges which` may occur in the steam pressure. 'l y"Variousmodilicatlons forms shown and described may be made in the specificwithin the scope ot the claims without departing from thespirit `ol myinvention.

l claim:

1. An automatic regulator comprising a body having a port., a valvehaving a port adapted to co-operate with said first-named port tocontrol the flow ot a medium., one of said ports being of regular formand the other being of irregular form with respect' thereto whereby thecontrol of the medium is effected in a predetermined manner. and meanstor operating said valve.

, Q..n automatic regulator comprising a body having a plurality. ot'ports. valves each having a port whereby the iow ot media under pressurethrough said plurality of ports is controlled to produce -mixture otpredetermined proportions. the

plurality ot ports being ot' irregular 'form with respect to their(zo-operating valve portsol regular form whereby the proportions inv themixture are maintained throughout the operative -range of the valves andregardless of any change of pressure in one ot the mediums. and meanstor concurrently operating said valves.

3. An automatic regulator tor oil burners comprising a bodv having asteam port and an oil port. hollow steam and oil valves.

each having a port cooperating with said steam and oil ports to controlthe flow oly steam and oil under pressure therethrough to produce amixture of predetermined proportions. the oil and steam passingtransversely through said ports into said' valves and out ot' the sainein axial directions. the

steam and oil ports being of irregular'torm with respect to the valveports ot regular 'form whereby the proportlons in the min` llifl llt)ture are maintained throughouty the operative range of the valves andregardless of anychange of pressure in the steam, and means valves.

4. An automatic regulator for oil burners comprising a body having apair ofoppositely disposed valve casings. provided with inlets andoutlet-s, sleeves fixed in said casings and provided with ports forconducting steam, and oil under pressure respectively in directionstransverse to the axes of said sleeves, hollow valves slidably fitted insaid sleeves and having ports co-operating with said steam and oil portsto permit steam and oil to pass into the interior of said valves and outof the same in axial directions, the valve ports being of rectangularform and the sleeve ports being of enerally correspending form butconverging toward one end whereby the proportions ofv the mixture aremaintained 4throu,f 1;hont the operative range of the valves an'dregardless of any change in the pressure of the steam,

and means for concurrently operating said valves.

5. An automatic regulator for oil burnersl comprising a `bod having apair of oppositely disposed va ve casings provided with inlets andoutlets, sleeves fixed in said casngs and provided with ports forconducting steam and oil under pressure re spectively in directionstransverse to the axes of said sleeves, hollow valves slidably androtatably fitted in said sleeves and havfor concurrently operating saiding co-operating ports for permittingthe steam and oil to pass into theinterior of said valves and out: of the same in axial directions, thevalve ports being of rectangular form and the sleeve ports being ofgenerally corresponding form but converging toward-one end whereby theproportions .of the mixture are maintained throughout the operativerange of the valves and regardless of any change in the pressure of thesteam, means for concurrently operating said valves, and means forindependently 'rotating said valves to vary the effective areas of saidports.

6. An automatic regulator for oil burners comprising a body having apair of oppositely disposed valve casings provided with inlets andoutlets, sleeves fixed in said casings and provided with ports forconducting steam and oil lunder pressure respectively in directionstransverseto the axes of said sleeves, hollow valves slidably fitted insaid sleeves and having ports co0perating with said steam and oil portsto permit steam and oil to pass into the interior of said valves and outof the same in axial directions, the ports being of predetermined formto maintain the proportions of the mixture substantially constantthroughout the operative range of the valves and means for concurrentlyoperating said valves.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ERNEST GROSSENBACHER.

